it's not necessary to use a compressor pedal or effect while recording. Compress the bass track in your DAW if you find that your levels are jumping around too much or if the notes are dying out early and you want more sustain to them. Studio compressors can do their job in most cases without making the source sound squished at all. Analog tape naturally compresses dynamics, digital media doesn't.
If you're using a DI box, you'll probably sound better with compression. If you're mic'ing an amp that's turned up loud, you'll be getting compression from that and maybe not need anything at mix time.

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I've tried a couple of compressors in the past and found the I didn't really like what they did to the sound. The best, most useable setting for me, were when the "effect" was barely noticeable. But then you think, why use one at all?

Careful use of compression can make or break a recording. You're trying to make sure that you don't have your levels, or those of any other instrument, bouncing around too much or you'll be too loud one note and too quite the next. We'd rather have attention stay on the song and not be on the unevenness of the bassline's steady pulsing groove.

For recording, as stated above, compressing in the DAW is best since your engineer can go back and change the settings as needed after all the other instruments/layers are in place.

Been several occassions where I've listened to my isolated bass trax and thought they sounded like sh_t, but in the context of the song, they sit perfectly in the mix.

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This. In a well-done mix, the bass will likely be treated differently when it is exposed vs. "busy" parts of the track, and during the busy parts compression and distortion are commonly used to help it remain audible. When soloed it can sound pretty bad.

i use mine like a limiter, adjusting the threshold so the compressor only clamps down on the peaks, while using a high ratio so when it does kick in, its pretty level. i found compressing the whole signal can make it sound spongy, and if its done right in the studio, it may not sound spongy but looses its balls. and when i am playing quietly the compressor opens up, ruining any dynamics and i have to play lighter than i normally would increasing the chances of making a mistake. i use the attack and release on fast, the ratio somewhere between +6-8, and just turn up the threshold enough to clip off the big notes from getting louder than all the rest, and also make my strings an even volume with each other. see if it might work for you.

There are many, many classic records that have almost no compression at all.

On the other hand, if you are talking modern rock radio then there is compression on almost everything.

Give us some bands that are in the same general vicinity as your band and we might be more helpful.

One thing that some compressors have is a low pass filter on the compression circuit that way the low frequencies don't trigger the compression only the mids and highs do. This is one way to keep compression from sounding "squishy." I am kind of surprised that more bass compressor pedals don't have this control, but I suppose pedals that are specifically made for bass are designed with lows in mind.

I recently found a great resource for recording called "Recording Revolution.com" The revolution in this case being the affordable home studio world we live in today. It's run by Graham Cochrane, who does mixing for a living in Florida. I really like his style and down to earth real world approach. Here are a few links for related articles and a video.

Which was going to be my next question: should you lay down a track with the compression on it or add it later with the software? I like the idea of being able to tweak it later without being too committed.

Which was going to be my next question: should you lay down a track with the compression on it or add it later with the software? I like the idea of being able to tweak it later without being too committed.

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If you do add compression on the way in to the computer do it very lightly. It is really hard to undo compression.

Which was going to be my next question: should you lay down a track with the compression on it or add it later with the software? I like the idea of being able to tweak it later without being too committed.

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Adding it after the fact is your best option (and our preferred approach FWIW), because...

I would say don't compress for compression sake. When you first start recording, there's all sorts of terminology thrown about as a necessity. Compression is one of them. From individual tracks, to buses, to muti-band compression on master tracks. There is all sorts of places you can use compression.

I found myself doing this when I first started recording. The track sounds good but there is no compression. So I slap compression on tracks. Problem was I didn't fully understand compression, or compressors for that matter and end up killing a reasonably decent mix. I'd say spend some time scouring the web researching compression. The more you understand how and when to use them, the better compression will benefit your song.

When in doubt, leave the compressor out. I have recorded many different bass players and rarely ever use any compression when I record them. If you need to compress the bass, it's better to use it when you are mixing. That way you always have the original uncompressed bass track if you decide you want to remix the song. Just remember...if you record the bass with compression, there is no way to "uncompress" the bass.